Youth and Egolatry by Pio Baroja — Read

Nevertheless, we call ourselves materialists. Yes; not because we believe that matter exists as we see it, but because in this way we may contradict the vain imaginings and all those sacred mysteries which begin so modestly, and always end by extracting the money from our pockets.

Materialism, as Lange has said, has proved itself the most fecund doctrine of science. Wilhelm Ostwald, in his _Victory of Scientific Materialism_, has defended the same thesis with respect to modern physics and chemistry.